Bradley Cooper Gossip and Trivia

Bradley Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Gloria (Campano), is of Italian descent, and worked for a local NBC station.

His father, Charlie Cooper, who was of Irish descent, was a stockbroker. He has a sister, Holly. Immediately after Bradley graduated from the Honors English program at Georgetown University in 1997, he moved to New York City to enroll in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University.

More about Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper Trivia:

Was a medalist on the Men’s Heavyweight Crew team at Georgetown University.

Had to miss his graduation commencement to film Wet Hot American Summer (2001).

Considers Daniel Day-Lewis the world’s greatest actor.

He attended Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania and graduated in 1993.

His father, Charlie Cooper, was of Irish heritage and worked as a stockbroker with Merrill Lynch. His mother, Gloria Cooper (née Campano), is of Italian heritage.

Cooper has spent many weekends with the Learning through the Expanded Arts Program (LEAP), which is a non-profit organization that teaches inner-city school children about acting.

Bradley Cooper has an older sister.

Speaks French fluently. He even did an interview, promoting The Hangover Part II (2011) entirely in French.

In the Steven Spielberg episode of Inside the Actors Studio (1994), Cooper appears in the audience about 15 minutes into the episode.

Bradley Cooper is a member of the same Los Angeles gym as Ryan Gosling, Jason Sarayba, Jodie Foster, Michelle Monaghan, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Ashley Tisdale.

Became close friends with Victor Garber during production on Alias (2001).

While a guest on Live with Kelly and Michael (1988) (aka “Live with Regis & Kelly”), Cooper was asked which of the actresses he has costarred with was his favorite on-screen kisser. Instead of an actress, he chose Michael Ian Black, with whom he shared a love scene in Wet Hot American Summer (2001).

His favorite films include New York Stories (1989)(segment ‘Life Lessons’), The Conversation (1974), The Celebration (1998) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007).

Drives a 2007 black Prius, and a 2004 G55 AMG Mercedes truck. He also owns a Vespa, which was a gift from The Hangover Part II (2011) director, Todd Phillips.

For six months prior to filming The A-Team (2010) and during the shoot, he cut out sugar, salt, and flour and underwent grueling two-hour workouts with a trainer every day.

Bradley Cooper admitted that in the beginning of his career casting agents tended to peg him as just a ‘pretty boy’, which made finding meaningful roles challenging.

Claimed that watching David Lynch’s production of The Elephant Man (1980) on television is what inspired him to be an actor. He later played the title character of John Merrick on stage for his graduate thesis at the Actors Studio, which he attended after graduating from Georgetown in 1997. He also went to London just to research the part, rather obsessively.

He is the first alumnus of The Actor’s Studio to be interviewed as a guest on Inside the Actors Studio (1994). Cooper can be seen in the audience on two episodes, one with guest Robert De Niro, and again with Sean Penn. Cooper put himself on tape to audition for a role as De Niro’s son in Everybody’s Fine (2009) (with his own mother playing the part of De Niro), but lost out to Sam Rockwell. Cooper eventually starred with De Niro in Limitless (2011), and again as father and son in Silver Linings Playbook (2012). The film was released to great critical acclaim, and both actors earned Academy Award nominations for their performances.

Was cast as Lucifer in an adaption of Paradise Lost (directed by Alex Proyas). The movie was canceled 4 months before filming due to budget conflicts.

Once had a job that required him to take out a $50,000 life insurance policy.

During an interview on the French TV Show “Le Journal de 19:45”, he stated his desire to work with french director Guillaume Canet [February, 2014].

After graduating from Germantown Academy in 1993, he attended Villanova University for his first year, then transferred to Georgetown University, from which he graduated with honors with a BA in English in 1997. Later in 2000, he received an MFA in acting from Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York City.

While he was studying at The New School, Cooper worked as a doorman at the Morgans Hotel.

Received both his Oscar nominations in films directed by David O. Russell and with Jennifer Lawrence as his co-star (Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013)).

Has starred alongside Robert De Niro in 3 movies: Limitless (2011), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013). He was an audience member during De Niro’s first appearance on the Inside the Actors Studio in which he asked him about his performance in Awakenings (1990).